The Illusion of Fear
by XfreakXninjaX
Summary: Ami Gamo comes from a rough family background, but her life soon changes drastically. Will this change be able to fill the emptiness that has etched its way into her soul? Or will it only cause the emptiness to engulf her completely? And just how does a certain Substitute Soul Reaper and his friends work their way into her story? I apologize for the bad summary
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's note: So, this is the first time I have published a story. I know that this first part may seem slightly morbid, but I promise that it will lighten up as the story continues! Reviews and follows are welcomed and well-loved, and so is constructive criticism! I have quite a few more Bleach stories to publish, so feel free to check them out as I post them!_**

Chapter One- Introduction to Punishment

My life, as I know it, is a lie. It's not a blatantly obvious lie, but it is a lie nonetheless. And what makes me a coward is the fact that I don't have the gall to look for the truth.

My name is Ami Gamo, and I come from a very religious family. I do not know the name of the religion that they follow; all I know is that the rules of this religion have tainted my life since the day I was born. Some of the rules aren't too awful, like the one that doesn't allow girls to cut their hair, but the consequences for breaking small rules like these are horrific. It seemed like I dealt with these punishments on a daily basis, even though I hadn't broken a single rule.

You see, according to this religion, all firstborns were supposed to be boys. It was considered a curse if your firstborn was a girl; and, thanks to my awesome luck, I am the firstborn child of my family and I am unmistakably a girl. My family takes this threat of a curse very seriously. My parents absolutely despised me, and my younger brother is rather indifferent to my plight. What I mean by my plight is that my father is a drunk, and a very heavy one at that. He can't hold down a steady job, and he blames all of his misfortunes on me.

This is where my punishment comes in. My father always takes out his anger on me when he is drunk, and that is very often. I can't remember how many times I've had to go to school with broken ribs or a black eye; the bruises that he leaves last for weeks, and, thanks to one of the rules of our wonderful religion, I can never see a doctor for my injuries. I've gotten used to it to a certain extent by now, though. I wish I could say that I'd gotten used to the pain, but that would be another lie.

My punishment isn't just physical. My mother and my father both try to attack my emotions, and they've done it since I can remember. I may not be able to block the physical pain that they put me through, but I can block the mental and emotional pain. Mentally, I have convinced myself to be indifferent to everything that they do and say. Sometimes it's difficult to convince myself that I'm not as useless as they say, but I make it through. As to my emotional level, well, I just stopped showing my emotions a long time ago. I still have them, but I found that hiding my mental and emotional pain helped to lessen my pain physically. My father seemed to lose interest when he didn't hear screams or see tears, but it still didn't stop him in the long run.

My 'not so normal' home life led to the downfall of my social life. When I was young, my abuse made me too afraid to talk to people, especially children of my own age. I knew my life wasn't normal, even back then, and I was terrified of what people would think of me if they knew what was going on. Other kids tried to talk to me, but I just couldn't find the courage to talk back. I tried to, but the words would never come out. So I gave up.

I have no friends. I am alone. I am empty inside. My life is a lie. And it is my own fault, because I am the one who doesn't have the courage to just stand up and say stop. My life has been governed by these illogical rules since I was born; they are all that I know, and no one has shown me any other way to live, so I just lie down and take the pain. I know it's not right, I know that it's not normal, but it is still all that I know.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: Again, a bit of a slow start, but things should be picking up soon, probably towards the end of the next chapter. And again, reviews, follows, favorites, and constructive critiques are always welcome. I would most definitely appreciate them. **_

Chapter Two- Rebirth in Fire

My days are usually quite uneventful. My walks to school in the morning are boring; peaceful, but boring. I walk alone all the way to school, and once I reach school, my day is no different. I sit through my classes, never saying a word. Even the teachers had realized that trying to get me to talk was pointless. Occasionally, I would hear a few girls in the back of the room snickering and making rude comments about me, but I would hardly call that 'the highlight' of my day. After school was let out, I would walk home. This walk was just as lonely and boring as the first, but on these walks, I would occasionally see a spirit or two. This was the highlight of my day.

I have always been able to see spirits. In fact, this is what started my abuse. My family cannot see spirits, so when I was little and I saw them, I didn't know any better, so I would try to talk and play with them, and obviously this made my parents think that I was crazy, as it normally would, but this is what drove my father to his breaking point; he started drinking, and you know the rest from there.

I never blamed the spirits, though. I never thought that if I couldn't see them, then my father would never have started to abuse me, because that was probably inevitable. If anything, I was grateful for the spirits. They were my only friends, the only things keeping me alive and sane, so I never questioned why I could see them. The spirits were nice to me. It was almost like they knew what I was going through, and they wanted to try to ease my pain. It's amazing what a little hint of companionship can do to a broken heart, because the spirits truly did ease my pain, even if it as only for a short time.

Today was a day just like any other, even though it was the last day of school before break. My walk to school was uneventful, and my day at school was just as uneventful, but something just didn't feel right. This ominous feeling had been following me around all day long, and I couldn't shake it for the life of me. I was hoping that a spirit would make me feel better on the way home, but there were no spirits around today. I didn't even see that many people around.

I should have realized that something would go wrong. The signs had been there all day, but I just ignored them. I would learn to regret that mistake, because it was one of the worst mistakes that I have ever made.

I didn't even have time to take my shoes off. As soon as I opened my front door, my father had his hand around my throat, and he was screaming obscenities in my face. I couldn't even understand him because he was slurring so bad and because he was so loud. I just stared at him, hoping today wouldn't be too bad. I wasn't afraid of what he would do; I was used to it. That was one of things that made me so empty- the fact that I didn't care enough to feel fear. It wasn't bravery that caused this, either. I didn't know what it was, but it was probably naivety or sheer innocent stupidity. Maybe I just didn't think that he would try to kill me. There's a first time for everything, though, right?

I should have been paying attention. Once he was done screaming, he threw me against the wall and walked away. That should have been another red flag to me, but I just ignored it again. I sat there and stared at the ground. I don't know what I was expecting, but I definitely was not expecting what happened.

"He has a knife." I looked up, and saw my brother looking at me from across the room. Again, I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I thought he was just going to threaten me with it; he'd done it before, so it wouldn't be too much of a shocker if he did it again. But, this was the first time my brother had warned me. It had been so long since he had last spoke to me, that I had forgotten the sound of his voice. He had grown up quite a bit recently. His once childish voice was becoming deeper and more masculine. He'd grown taller, too, but he still wasn't as tall as me.

I should have been paying attention. I was so focused on my brother that I didn't realize that my father had walked back into the room. Now I started to pay attention to him. He was carrying a large kitchen knife with him, one much bigger than the one he had threatened me with before. I should have run, but dumbass little me just sat there, ready to take my punishment for being born.

* * *

Blood was shed that night. That shed blood was trailed down the streets as the young girl ran for her life. She never thought that he would go this far; hell, she was surprised he wasn't running after her, trying to finish the job that he had started. But she had finally felt a small prick of fear. It was that small prick of fear that made her realize that she did care to live, that she did not want to live like this, that this wasn't right and that no religion could make this right. She wanted to live, to show her emotions, to have friends, to live a normal life, but she couldn't do it by just sitting there.

So, just as the knife was coming down for its third round, she ran. She pushed her father away from her and ran. It was amazing how weak of a push it took to knock him down. All that pain and suffering, and it caused by a man that was weak enough to be taken down by a teenage girl that was bleeding to death. It was ironic in such a sadistic way.

She didn't feel the pain. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but for the first time in a long time, she smiled. She had finally run away. She had finally felt something other than apathy, and she felt so free because of it. She might die because of it, but she would die free, and that was enough to make her happy.

The girl was not completely alone. Spirits watched her from a distance, hoping, praying that somebody could help her. The living also watched her from a distance, some crying, some not, but all were saddened by the sight, and none of them had the courage to go to her. Instead, they called a nearby clinic, one that was on the route that she was running, one that was owned by a very strange family, but a family that would help her.

Isshin Kurosaki quickly hung up his phone. That was yet another call about a girl running down the street covered in blood. The calls were coming in more frequently, and she was getting closer and closer to his clinic. He had to act fast, or this girl would not make it through the night.

"Ichigo! Go outside and watch for the girl! I need to get things ready in here!" Isshin was speaking to his son, Ichigo Kurosaki, who was mildly confused by the situation, but he understood that it was serious. Ichigo couldn't even reply to his father before his sister, Karin, came running in.

"Dad, she's coming!" Karin yelled, getting the attention of both men. Ichigo sprinted outside, and as soon as he hit the street he saw her.

"Ami?" he muttered, wide-eyed and awestruck. He was even more confused now. Why would she be covered in blood? He had never spoken to her before, even though she was in his class, but he knew that she never bothered anyone, never gave them a reason to want to harm her.

"Ami!" he screamed, as she began to sway. She didn't make it too much farther before she fell to the ground, and this time, she didn't get back up.

Ichigo ran to her as fast as he could. When he reached her, he froze. Now, he couldn't understand why she was still alive. There was cut along her neck that went over collar bone and deepened right under it. Her other visible wound was a deep stab wound that started at the top of her navel. It was obvious that adrenaline was the only thing that was keeping her alive.

"Ichigo! Bring her in!" Isshin's yelling was able to snap Ichigo out of his daze. He quickly picked his classmate up, and ran her back inside of his father's clinic, where he laid her down on a prepared bed. Isshin quickly ran to the bedside, his eyes widening as soon as he saw her. Her wounds were grave, and she had already lost way too much blood. There was no earthly medicine that could save her, but he refused to give up on her.

"Ichigo, stay here and take care of your sisters!" Isshin commanded as he picked the girl up.

"What? Where are you going?" Ichigo stuttered, wondering why his father would risk moving her.

"I have to take her somewhere else, Ichigo! I can't save her, but somebody else can! I'll be back later, just do as I asked you!" Isshin didn't give his son time to reply as he sprinted out of his clinic and down the street. He used his free hand to pull out his phone and quickly dialed the number of one of the men he trusted most in this world.

"I'm coming to you! I need your help! I need you to heal-"The person on the other end of the line cut him off.

"You know already? Good! I'm almost there! I can see the shop right now!" Isshin quickly shut his phone and threw it in his pocket as he reached the front of the shop. Kisuke Urahara was standing outside of his shop, waiting for Isshin.

"Follow me," Kisuke stated as Isshin finally reached him. Kisuke quickly led him a separate room, where a bed mat was laid out. Tessai Tsukabishi, loyal friend to Kisuke, was also waiting in the room. Isshin gently laid the girl down on the mat.

"Can you save her?" he asked. He noticed just how pale she had gotten, and cursed himself for not getting here sooner.

"I believe so, but it may take some time," Tessai answered. He held his hands over the girl's torso, and he began to use kido to heal her.

"Any clue what did this?" Kisuke asked.

"None. She passed out on the street before my boy could get her inside," Isshin told him. "But only a monster could do something like this."

"I agree. Tessai, what do you think?" Kisuke questioned, hoping his friend could shed some light on the situation.

"It was not a Hollow, I can tell you that. These wounds were done by a human, most likely with a knife," Tessai explained. His brow suddenly stiffened, and a frown now adorned his face.

"What is it?" Isshin asked, hoping that something else wasn't wrong with the girl.

"Her wounds are healing much faster than I thought," Tessai told him.

"Isn't that good?" Isshin wondered aloud, his attention suddenly drawn to the sirens that were roaring by outside.

"It's strange, but it is good. She should fully heal very soon," Tessai explained. Isshin let out a sigh of relief, looking down at the young girls face. He was startled to say the least.

"What is it?" Kisuke asked him, also looking down at her face, and he was equally as startled. She was lying there, staring up at them in awe equal to their own.

* * *

I couldn't remember much. I remember feeling pain, and a lot of it, and I remember being afraid and running, and I remember someone yelling my name, but everything was blank after that. I was lying down now, in a relatively comfortable place, but as to where that place was, I was clueless. This concerned me. However, I wasn't in pain anymore, so that was good, although, it couldn't really get worse.

There was really only one way to find out where I was, and that was to open my eyes. I was almost afraid to, but I decided that it was my best option, especially since I obviously couldn't just lie here forever. I opened them slowly, letting them get used to the light in the room I was in. The first thing I noticed was the man that was holding his hands above me, and that his hands were glowing. But, this glow seemed to be taking my pain away, so I just went with it. The next thing I noticed was the two other men in the room who were speaking to each other. I didn't really know what else to do, so I just stared at them. It didn't take them long to notice me.

"You're awake?" the darker featured man asked me. He oddly reminded me of one of the kids that was in my class, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I nodded my head in reply to his question.

"Hello, there! My name is Kisuke Urahara! I'm just your average run-of-the-mill handsome shopkeeper! May I ask what your name is?" the blond man asked me, unfolding his fan and putting it in front of his mouth. Well, I decided right off the bat that he was weird, but he seemed nice enough, and I felt relatively safe here, so I would cooperate with him.

"I-I'm Ami. Ami Gamo," I answered. That was the first time I had spoken it what seemed like, and what probably was, years. My voice was so weak and low, a perfect example of what I had become.

"Well, Ami, I'm Isshin Kurosaki. It's very nice to meet you," the dark featured man informed me. His statement was normal enough, but he seemed overly cheery and bubbly when he said it. I decided that he was weird, too. However, his name did ring a bell.

"Kurosaki? You mean...like Ichigo Kurosaki?" I asked him. He seemed shocked by my question, but he quickly regained his composure.

"I figured you were about his age. You must be in his class," Isshin stated, with a sad smile now on his face.

"Young lady, who did this to you?" the man above me asked. I was quiet for a moment. I wasn't sure how to answer. I had never told anyone about my life before, and I guess that they could all sense my unease.

"Don't worry," Kisuke assured me. "You're safe here. Neither Isshin, Tessai, or I will hurt you." I thought about that for a moment. I mean, he was right. So far, these people had been nothing but kind to me, so I had no reason to fear them.

"It-it was my father," I finally mumbled. I almost hoped that they couldn't hear me, but when they all began to look enraged, I knew that they had heard.

"What kind of a sick bastard would do this to his own daughter?" Isshin spat. At least he wasn't mad at me. Kisuke was about to say something, but he was cut off by sirens speeding by outside.

"More?" Tessai muttered. The glowing around his hands suddenly stopped. I looked down at my chest and reached up to feel my neck and I saw and felt nothing. My wounds were completely gone.

"Th-that's amazing. Thank you so much," I told Tessai.

"It was nothing. You healed much better than I thought," he replied. He played my compliment off, but the expression he held told me that he really did appreciate the compliment.

"Would you like some fresh air?" Kisuke asked me. I nodded, and he and Isshin both held out their ands to me. I was startled by their offers to help me up, so I didn't move.

"Come on, we won't hurt you, Ami," Isshin assured me, also giving me a gentle smile. I hesitated for another moment, but then I reached up and took both of their hands, letting both assist me.

"How do you feel?" Urahara asked me.

"Really good, actually. Thank you, all of you. I'd be…dead right now, if it hadn't of been for you," I told them. Isshin looked like he was on the verge of tears, as did Tessai.

"Ah, don't mention it!" Urahara replied, beginning to lead me outside. Tessai and Isshin quickly followed. As soon as we stepped out of the shop, a fire truck went by with its sirens blaring. As we looked to where it was heading, I noticed something.

"They're going towards my house," I observed.

"You think so?" Isshin asked me. I nodded my head.

"Should we check it out?" Kisuke asked, mainly wanting to know if I felt like going back to see.

"It…couldn't hurt," I told him. Kisuke nodded.

"Tessai, stay here and watch after Jinta and Ururu. I'll be back soon." Tessai bowed his head to Urahara in agreement.

"Shall we, Isshin?" Urahara asked the doctor, who nodded in agreement.

"If we see the bastard that did this, we can pay him pack for it," Isshin stated as we began to walk. In all honesty, I wouldn't have cared if they killed him, as long as I didn't have to deal with him again.

Our walk was quiet, but unlike all of my other quiet walks, I had company this time, which was a nice change. Kisuke and Isshin seemed to be very nice men, and that was a refreshing change from my father.

As we got closer and closer to my home, the commotion grew. People were standing outside of their houses, trying to see as much of the travesty as they could. From a distance it was hard to tell which house was burning, but as we got closer, I could tell that it was definitely mine. Isshin and Kisuke led me as close as we could get until we were stopped by an officer.

"Excuse me, but this is this young lady's home. Is there anything you can tell her?" Isshin asked. The officer stared at me for a moment, seeming to contemplate his answer.

"It was most likely an electrical fire, and it spread fast, much faster than we could respond to. I'm sorry to inform you of this, but everyone that was inside the home did not make it out."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Trying to Live Again

I didn't know how to feel. Should I feel sad that my family had just been killed in a fire? Or should I be relieved that my abusers could no longer hurt me? To be honest, I didn't feel anything. I didn't care, but it was different this time. I wasn't forcing myself to not care for my own benefit; I genuinely did not care. And I was okay with that, which was the saddest part about it.

Of course, there was the whole underlying problem that I was homeless now. I didn't really have anybody that I could go to, so I called the only person that I thought would help me. My father's sister had left the family and its religion a long time ago. She had gone to medical school and married an American that was also a doctor. She lived a few hours away from Karakura Town, and she was the only person that I had any sort of connection to now.

She came into town the next day (Kisuke let me stay with him until she got here), and she greeted me with one of the tightest and most endearing hugs that I have ever received. She wasn't consoling me for my family's death, though. No, she was happy for me. She was overjoyed that I had been freed from them, and that I would no longer be ruled by that ridiculous religion that had held me in its clutches since the day I was born.

She was actually curious about me. She wanted to know how my school work was going, if I had any friends, if there were any boys in my life, what my hobbies were, what kind of music I liked, and other things like that. I almost couldn't keep up with how fast she was asking me questions, and I couldn't get over the fact that she actually wanted to know **me**. Whenever I gave her some depressing answer, she didn't let it get her down; she just assured me that things would be different now, that I would be free to be myself, that I was getting a new chance to experience life.

Of course, our visit couldn't last for too long. She had a family to get back to and patients to take care of. She offered to take me with her, but I had to refuse her. I wanted to turn my life around, and I wanted to do it in Karakura Town because I was comfortable here, and she understood that, and she was more than willing to help provide for me, as long as I didn't waste my life away.

She paid the security deposit and the first month's rent on an apartment for me, and she said would send me rent money and general living money every month afterwards. She made sure that I had all of the clothing and food and furnishing that I would need, and she also gave me some extra money after that. When she left, she gave me another loving hug, and wished me luck, telling me to call her every few days to tell her how I was. With that, she was gone, leaving me to tend to myself and settle into my new life.

The first day was the hardest. I didn't know what to do with myself; I didn't know how to start over. I tried to walk around my apartment to try to get used to it, but it just didn't work. It felt like there was something holding me back, something that was keeping me from moving on. I didn't know what it was, so I just kept walking around, hoping that I could figure out what it was.

Weeks had passed, and I still hadn't discovered anything. School was set to start the next day, and I was still just wandering around my apartment. But, as I was walking around my bedroom, something caught my eye. It was a picture frame, and it held the only thing that was recovered from my burnt down house. It was an old family picture, one that was taken shortly after my brother had been born. The picture was mostly intact, except for the single burn hole that covered where my face should have been.

I stared at the picture for a long time. At first, I didn't feel anything from it, but the longer I stared, the more I began to think. My parents were actually smiling in this picture, which was a rare occasion. I began to wonder just why they were smiling. Maybe it was because they had finally gotten the son that they had always wanted. Maybe there was some other reason, but one thought kept crossing my mind: What gave them the right to be happy when they had robbed me of my happiness? What gave them the right to just walk all over me and treat me like I was trash when I was their daughter, their own child? What gave them the right to break my spirit, to break the very soul that they had brought into this world?

I had the same answer to each question: Not a damn thing. That answer made me realize that it wasn't my entire fault. Yes, maybe I should have tried to stand up to them, but that probably would have made things worse. I did nothing to deserve what they did to me; they were the real monsters. They were the ones that deserved punishment.

I started to get mad, and it felt good. I was finally branching out to a new emotion, perhaps one that would help me to move on from my past. I was mad at my parents; I hated them, but I was also mad at myself. Why the hell hadn't I moved on already? Why was I letting some burnt out memory hold me back from living my life when I had finally been released from all of my limitations?

I was so mad that I grabbed that damned picture frame and threw it against the wall as hard as I could, causing the glass to shatter and the frame to slightly bend. The picture fell face down, so I didn't have to look at their smiles anymore, those same smiles that they were probably still wearing because they were still tormenting me, even from the grave.

That broken frame wasn't enough to satiate my anger. There was something else that they were holding against me, and I knew exactly what it was. I walked over to the vanity mirror that was in my room, and opened one of its drawers. Inside of it was the tool that I would use to completely sever my ties to my past. As I looked into the mirror, I saw angry lavender eyes staring back at me, and these eyes continued to stare at me as I took that concealed tool and cut away.

Ichigo Kurosaki stared at the empty desk in front of him as if it were some kind of monster. Where in the world was Ami? His father had told him that she was fine, and that she was being taken care of, but if that were true, then why wasn't she at school? A few of his friends had asked about her, but he didn't have any answers to give them. She was usually early to class, but as the clock kept ticking, she was getting closer and closer to being late.

Ochi-sama was standing at the front of the room, tapping her foot as the last few seconds until class started ticked away. She had noticed that there was only one student missing, and she knew which particular student that it was, and she was worried. She had heard what happened to Ami's family, and there were also rumors of her own injury. The teacher could only hope that nothing else had happened to the girl.

There was only one way to put it: I was late for school on the first day back after break because I got lost. I didn't know how to get to the school from my apartment, and to top it all off, it was about to rain. I hadn't brought my raincoat with me, so I ran even faster to avoid being drenched in what I was sure would be a downpour.

Luckily, the school building soon came into my sight. Some sweet old lady had been kind enough to point me in the right direction when she saw how lost I was. As soon as I made it through the doors I bolted through the building, knowing that the time I had before I was late was running out very quickly. I stopped outside of the classroom door for a second to catch my breath, but I didn't have long before Ochi-sama would start class.

"Alright, I guess we should get things started," I heard her begin. Damn. I hated to interrupt her, but I had no choice. I gently opened the door, trying not to cause too much noise.

"Ami?" Ochi-sama gasped. I rubbed the back of my head slightly and gave her a small smile.

"Sorry, Ochi-sama. I…got lost. I'm not used to the area where I live yet," I explained. She was silent for a moment, surprised that I was even speaking to her.

"Ochi-sama?" I said, trying to regain her attention and break her trance. She fidgeted slightly as she regained her composure.

"S-sorry. You just look so different, Ami," she told me. When she said that, I couldn't help but reach up to touch the ends of my hair. I had used the pair of scissors from my vanity to cut my hair the night before. I had never cut it before, so it had gone a little past my knees. But that long lavender hair had been matted with my own blood not long before, so I decided that it had to go. I had cut it all the way to my jawline, and it had stayed straight after I cut it.

"Y-yeah, I decided that I needed a change," I told her, still giving her a small smile. Without another moment's hesitation, she gave me one of the biggest grins that she could give.

"Well, I like it! You're right on time, so have a seat and we'll get started!" she announced. I gave her a small bow and quickly walked to my seat, ready to get this day officially started.

Class actually went by pretty fast for once. It seemed like barely any time had passed before we were let out for a lunch break. I was just starting to get up from my seat before a certain orange headed classmate of mine stopped me.

"Ami, how are you holding up?" Ichigo asked me, startling me at first, but once I noticed the concern on his face I was able to regain my composure.

"I'm fine, Kurosaki-san. How's your father doing?" I replied, trying my best to make conversation with him.

"He asked me to check on you today. He worries about you a lot, you know. And you can drop the honorifics, Ami," he told me.

"Alright, Ichigo. Please tell your dad that I'm fine, and tell him that I said thank you for everything," I said, giving him a small smile.

"I will. See you later, Ami." With that, Ichigo walked off. I thought that I would be left alone after this, but I was wrong.

"Gamo-san!" I turned around to see Orihime Inoue running up to me.

"I really like what you did with your hair, Gamo-san!" she complimented as she reached me. I shouldn't have so shocked that she was talking to me. Orihime had always been a sweet girl, one of the few that didn't talk about me behind my back.

"T-Thank you, Orihime-chan. Oh, you don't mind me calling you that, do you?" I asked her. I wasn't quite used to social manners yet.

"I don't mind at all, Gamo-san!" she assured me.

"Thank you. And please, don't call me Gamo-san. It sounds strange," I told her. She seemed to think for a moment.

"How about Ami-chan, then?" she asked, not losing a beat of her excitement.

"That's fine. I…I kind of like it, actually," I told her.

"I'm glad you like it! We're going to be such great friends Gamo- I mean Ami-chan! I can just tell already!" she proclaimed. That was strange to me, to just have somebody come up to me and offer their friendship to me out of the blue, but it also gave me a sort of endearing feeling, and a new appreciation for Orihime. She was such a happy person, and maybe that was just what I needed in my life.

I spent the majority of my day talking to Orihime and her friends after that. Well, I didn't really talk; I mostly listened to them, but I did speak a little bit. None of them mentioned the fire, which I was grateful for. They seemed to be relatively nice girls, especially Orihime and Tatsuki. I was actually kind of sad when school let out and I had to leave them, but I would see them the next day, so it wasn't too bad.

The conversation that I had had with Ichigo earlier really got me thinking. I had been so distracted since the fire that I had nearly forgotten about the people that had saved me that night. So, I decided to pay a visit to Kisuke Urahara. Luckily, I remembered how to get to his shop, so I wouldn't get lost for a second time that day.

It didn't take me long to get there. As I got closer to the front of the shop, I saw that Jinta and Ururu were both outside. They both stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

"Who are you?" Jinta demanded, as soon as I was about to walk by them. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"You don't remember?" I asked him. I didn't know whether I should be offended or not.

"Jinta, it's Ami-san!" Ururu told him. I smiled at her, grateful that she had at least remembered me.

"No it's not! There's no way!" Jinta argued, rather loudly. Loudly enough, in fact, to draw the attention of both Tessai and Kisuke, who both walked out of the shop to see what all of the commotion was.

"Just what are you two...AMI-CHAN!" Kisuke quickly hopped over to me and engulfed me in a bone-crushing hug.

"Ami-chan, how are you? Where have you been?" he asked me as he dragged me inside his shop, shutting the door before the others could follow.

"I'm fine, thank you. I just thought I should check in with you, and tell you how thankful I am for what you did that night," I told him. He set me down in a separate room and shut the door behind us, for privacy, I would imagine.

"Please, take a seat Ami-chan." I took his offer, and kneeled down on one of the mats in the room. He sat down on the mat across from me.

"Now, Ami-chan, I have some things to ask you. They may sound strange, but please, answer them seriously," he began. Well, if things weren't weird before…What in the world could he possibly mean?

"O-Okay," I agreed, very skeptically.

"Do you see spirits, Ami?" I swear I stopped breathing for a moment, and it felt like my heart had stopped. Did he really just ask me that? Were there others that could see them, too?

"Ami?" he repeated. I slowly nodded my head in reply.

"I figured as much. How long have you seen them?" he continued.

"A-As long as I can remember," I told him. He paused in thought for a moment.

"Now that, I did not expect," he said, rubbing the back of his head. A quick knock came at the door, and Tessai opened it shortly after.

"There's a customer here, boss," Tessai informed him.

"Is it a 'special' customer?" Kisuke asked him. Tessai shook his head. "I see. Well, Ami, I have business to conduct. Just stick around for a little bit and I'll get right back with you."

When he first left the room, I didn't move. I didn't know what to think. I had never questioned myself about seeing spirits before, but now on a random day out of the blue, someone brings it up and I begin to question myself. It shouldn't have surprised me, though, I mean, they had healed me with some sort of 'magic'.

I needed to get out of this room. I was feeling way too confined and I felt like I might blow at any moment, so I got up and slowly shuffled my way into the main shop area. I felt so confused and abnormal, and I felt alone. At that moment, I just wanted to be invisible so no one could see me, so I could protect myself from their judgment.

I can't explain the feeling that washed over me then. It almost felt like a gust of wind had gone through my body, and I felt as light as air. I stopped moving, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oh, I was walking by and I saw this cute little shop and I just couldn't resist coming in!" I turned my head, only to see Urahara's customer, a large and flamboyant looking lady, right in front of me. It was like she didn't notice me because she just kept walking.

"Watch-"Urahara began to warn the woman, but he was too late. She kept walking, and she walked right through me. Urahara and I were both wide-eyed, but he was staring at something. I looked down to where he was staring, only to find that a light purple, glowing glyph had spread across my upper chest and was shining through my shirt.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: Alrighty, here's chapter four. Thank you to everyone who has read this so far, and a very special thanks to HopelessXDayXDreamer for the favorite. As for the new chapter, I decided that it was time to start bringing out Ami's dry and sarcastic humor, so please tell me what you think about it. Reviews are always welcome, as is constructive criticism. Thanks for reading!**_

Chapter Four- Glyphs, Guns, What Else?

"Ami-Chan? Are you alright?" I looked across the room and saw that Kisuke was talking to me. After he had finally gotten rid of his customer, we went back to the same room that we had been in before. He had begun to explain things to me about spirits and these other things called Hollows, but I spaced out about half way through his discussion.

I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. When that glyph had started glowing, it seemed to have put me into some kind of spirit form, or at least that's what Kisuke thought. The problem was that the glyph was still glowing, and I was still in this 'spirit form'.

"Sorry, Urahara-san. I'm just distracted," I told him.

"Understandably so. I'm just curious as to how we'll be able to get you out of this form. My knowledge on glyphs is limited at best," he replied. I looked down at the glyph that had imprinted itself on my chest. Its light purple glow hadn't faded one bit. But as I looked closer, I noticed a few things about it. The outermost circle was completely glowing, but there were eight characters on the outside of it; only one of them was glowing. The very center was also glowing, but everything in between it and the outer circle was not.

"Ami-chan? Are you sure that you're alright?" Kisuke asked again. I didn't reply to him immediately. I reached up and gently tapped the top character of the glyph. Suddenly, the whole glyph disappeared, and my body didn't feel so light anymore. I felt that surge of energy that had gone through me fade away

"I think that did it," I stated, rubbing my hand across the area where the glyph used to be.

"It seems that way. Wait here a moment." Kisuke quickly left the room, and came back a few moments later carrying a few books with him.

"I found these. These are some books on glyphs. You should probably read them and see what you can find out," he explained. I nodded, and took the books from him.

"It's getting late. I should probably head home. Thank you for everything, Urahara-san," I told him.

"Don't mention it. Be careful out there, Ami. If you see anything, and I mean anything, that might be threatening to you, come here as fast as you can."

"I will." And with that, I left, and made my way home as fast as I could, eager to begin reading the books that he had given me.

* * *

A few days had passed and I was still reading those books. I had learned a lot from them. The first one I read broke down the parts of glyphs, like the outer rim, the center, and the area in between them. The second book was about glyph characters, and I found most of the ones I had in it, but not all of them. The different characters were fascinating. The top one that had been lit before meant 'spirit', and some of the others that I had meant things like 'illusion', 'invisible', and 'energy', leaving the other four unknown.

I was almost finished with the third book. I had woken up early just so I could finish it before I had to leave for school. This one was about the certain combinations of parts and symbols that made up specific kinds of glyphs, and what these kinds of glyphs were used for. So far, and I had found a few things similar to mine, but not close enough to mean anything.

I was on the last few pages, and I was sure that I had found something. All of the parts matched up, as did the main set of symbols. Apparently, some of them were interchangeable and were made by combining two or three other characters, which may have been why I couldn't find them in the second book.

"Damn," I muttered. When I turned the page, I saw that the very last page had been torn out. I was hoping that it didn't have anything important on it, but as I quickly read the back of the page that I was on, I saw that it was very important. It was the page that explained what my glyph was used for and what used it.

The 'what used it' part was the main thing that concerned me. I was pretty certain that I was just a normal human being, so it made sense that that caught my attention. Of course, I did see spirits, and I apparently healed rather fast, so I guess the odds were against me being normal. But of course, as soon as a question rises, its answer is ripped away, and I would probably not find the answer to my question anytime soon. So, I just closed the book and left for school.

* * *

"Ami-chan!" I turned around and saw that Orihime was running towards me. As it turned out, she and I didn't live too far from each other, so our paths crossed on the way to and from school. It was nice to finally have somebody to walk with, and Orihime could usually keep a conversation going by herself, so I didn't really have to talk much.

"Good morning, Orihime-chan. How are you feeling?" I asked her as she caught up to me. Weird things had been happening during the last few days. It wasn't just Orihime, either. Chad had showed up with a weird bird one day, and got hurt that night. And before that, something had happened to Ichigo; I wasn't sure what it was, but when he came into school one day, he felt 'different'. Nothing visibly had happened to him, but it was like there was some new energy that was around him. And to top things off, some new transfer student had come in. She was a sweet girl, but she was far from normal.

"Great! I feel a lot better now! Say, Ami-chan, what do you think of Kuchiki-san?" Well, I couldn't exactly tell her the majority of what I thought about her, but I could tell her a little bit.

"She seems nice enough, a little off at points, but nice," I told her. She nodded her head in understanding. "What about you? What do you think of her?"

"I like her. I wonder how she knows Kurosaki-kun, though," she pondered. I giggled at her.

"Wh-what are you laughing at?" she asked me, a small blush creeping across her face.

"Nothing, Orihime-chan. Nothing at all. You're a real special girl, you know that?" I assured her. That girl was so hopelessly infatuated with Ichigo that it was actually kind of funny.

"R-Really? You think so?" she asked. I nodded.

"Of course you are, Orihime-chan. Don't let anyone tell you different," I told her. She suddenly jumped on me, enveloping me in a tight hug.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you, Ami-chan! I knew we would be great friends!" she cheered. I just laughed at her antics. She really was a special girl, one of the first few people that I would actually consider my friend.

* * *

Oh, Orihime was special, alright. She and Ichigo had decided that it would be a good idea to stalk one of our classmates, Uryuu Ishida, for most of the morning. And they weren't exactly being subtle about. Well, I'm sure that they thought they were being sneaky, but to me, as an observer, it was blatantly obvious. All I could do was shake my head and sigh at them.

"Why is Ichigo following Ishida? He should be following me!" Keigo cried.

"Asano-san, why are you complaining about not being stalked?" I asked him.

"Ami! Why are you using honorifics? I thought we were friends now! Don't leave me, too!" he whined. I turned and started to walk away from him.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" he called.

"It's time for class, Asano-san," I told him. I smiled to myself as heard him cry over honorifics again. I really did consider him a friend, but it was so much fun to mess with him.

As I walked into the classroom, I saw that Ichigo was already there, and that he was staring intently into the back of Uryuu's head. I just shook my head at him and began to walk to my desk, which was sadly right in front of Ichigo, so I would have to deal with his weirdness for the entire class, and most likely the rest of the day.

I was so distracted by Ichigo and his obvious staring, that I accidently bumped into Uryuu's desk. One of his books fell off, but I quickly reached down and caught it before it hit the ground. When I looked up, I saw that he was staring at me, and that he had barely been ably to move his hand before I caught his book. I had also caught the attention of Ichigo, who was, by some miracle, no longer staring at Ishida. If I didn't know any better, I would think that Ichigo had a thing for him…

"I'm so sorry, Ishida-san. I wasn't paying attention. It won't happen again," I quickly apologized, trying to get away from both of their unwavering stares.

"It's fine, Gamo-san," he told me, rather stoically at that, and he took his book back as I handed it to him. I didn't see what Ichigo's problem was. Sure, he had that same energy around him that Ichigo had, but he seemed harmless, even though he was quite antisocial.

I quickly walked to my seat, and once I sat down, I began to write down a little message for Ichigo. As I finished it, I turned sideways in my seat, and then proceeded to kick Ichigo right in the shin. He flinched, and he finally turned his head away from Ishida to glare at me, and I took this opportunity to show him my message.

"Quit staring at him and quit stalking him, weirdo. Or at least be more subtle about it," the message read. He looked at me like I head grown another head or something. I just gave him a cheeky grin, and he couldn't help but smile at that, even though he tried to fight it. I patted him on the shoulder and turned back around in my seat. I caught Uryuu still staring at me, but I just pretended not to notice, and I started reading my book on Old English poetry, which I found quiet fascinating, strangely enough.

* * *

"Ami!"

"Please don't stalk me." I stopped Ichigo right in his tracks with that subtle little comment. I also received quite the dirty look for it, as well.

"What? You don't like my humor, Kurosaki-san?" I asked him. His eye twitched at that one. I was finding a lot of entertainment messing with people today.

"I'm just kidding with you, Ichigo. What's wrong?" I asked him, returning to my normal, calm, quiet demeanor.

"It's nothing, really it's just…What do you think of Uryuu?" he blurted out. I wasn't surprised.

"Ichigo, humor me, but why are you asking me this?" I replied.

"Something's just off about him, and I…trust your opinion, so I figured I'd ask you," he told me. I smiled at him.

"Thank you, Ichigo. That means a lot to me," I told him. "As for Ishida, yes, something does seem a little off about him, but what's even stranger is the way you've been following him. Just stand back and be patient, Ichigo. I'm sure it's nothing too big, but even if it is, you have to give it time and observe it from a distance so you don't rush it."

"Th-thanks, Ami. I guess I am being a little paranoid," he conceded, rubbing the back of his head.

"A little paranoia never hurt anyone Ichigo. Just be careful, alright? And if you ever need anything, you know where to find me," I told him.

"Ah, I will. Be careful, Ami." We went our separate ways after that. I had decided that I would pay Urahara a visit and ask him about the missing page. The thing was, Ichigo's paranoia was rubbing off on me, and now something didn't feel right. But I knew it wasn't just in my head this time. It was like something in the atmosphere was off, but I had to take my own advice and just let things happen, because I had no clue what was going on.

* * *

I didn't make it very far to Urahara's. I was walking down an empty street, which was weird to begin with, but I started to feel this presence. I don't really know how to describe it. Maybe menacing was a good word, because it definitely felt threatening. I tried to shrug it off, but that just didn't work out too good. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard a cackle, a cackle that was obviously not human.

"Oh, this one looks tasty." That masculine, inhuman voice sent chills down my spine. I slowly turned my head to look behind me, and there it was. It was in the sky, and not very far away from me at that. It was this strange white, deformed bear looking thing, that had a weird mask on and a hole in its chest. And that's when it hit me: this was one of those Hollows that Kisuke had warned me about.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I knew this feeling. This feeling was fear, the same kind of fear that I had felt on the night that my father had tried to kill me. I knew what this fear was trying to tell me: It was telling me to run, to run for my life or die. So I did what it told me to. I ran like hell.

"Oh, I like playing with my food!" This was new to me. The last time I ran, nothing had followed me, except for death itself, but the time, I was actually being chased, and I'm sure that my attacker would love to bring death right to me.

I wish that last page had been there. Maybe it could have given me the enlightening information on how to use my glyph, but with my luck, that just hadn't happened. However, I didn't want to bring any innocent people into this, especially if they couldn't see the Hollow, so I reached up and touched the spot where the top character of my glyph would be, the 'spirit' character. I immediately felt that breathtaking surge of energy go through me and my glyph began to glow again, and though I felt much lighter, I wasn't running any faster, which sucked. At least I wouldn't bring any innocents into this.

This Hollow had put me off of my route to Urahara's, so I would have to take a detour. But, the only one that I could think of was extremely long, and the fact that I was being chased by something that wanted to eat my soul made it quite a bit longer. But, I did the only thing that I could do, and kept running.

Before long, I reached on open field of grass that was surrounded by a few trees. I still wasn't even half way to Urahara's, but I was getting closer. Before I could even run another foot, something hit the ground behind me, and it hit hard. I was thrown forward, a debris of rocks and dirt following me. I hit the ground hard, and I kept rolling for a few feet. As soon as stopped rolling, I heard that cackle again. That ugly beast must have done that.

"What's the matter? Can't get up?" the Hollow taunted. I actually wasn't sure that I could. Whatever it had done had mildly singed my leg, but I would have hated to prove the Hollow right, so, through some pain, I managed to stand up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been; I had had worse before.

The Hollow shot a blast at me, and I assume it was the same kind as before. It was a red shot of energy, and I barely managed to jump out of its way. As the debris from the blast flew, I realized that it was time to get creative. I didn't just have this glyph for show, and now it was time to use it.

The first one I tried was the 'illusion' character. I had actually found this one in the books. It had said something about 'bending the mind to the will of the user', so I figured as long as I used some imagination, I could figure it out. I quickly touched the 'illusion' character, and I decided to keep thing simple. I just imagined another me.

Luckily, it worked. My copy appeared right in front of me, also in the same position as I was in. I quickly reached up and also touched the 'invisible' character. I could only use this one if I had activated the 'illusion' character, or at least that's what the book said. I hadn't really had time to test that out, obviously, but this character erased me from my opponent's vision, which I guess was another type of illusion.

"There's no hope for you! Why don't you just lay down and die?" the Hollow taunted. I quickly put some space between me and my clone, not wanting to get hit by whatever was coming. I was right in doing this, because as soon as I was a few feet away, the Hollow fired another shot at me. And it went right through my copy, and she faded away. Crap. I definitely needed to practice that.

"Tricky little thing, aren't you? Well, your time's up, so get ready to die!" the Hollow started to rush towards me. I panicked. I didn't know what to do, so I reached up and tapped the 'energy' character. I had no idea what this one would do. I knew what it stood for, but that was it.

Suddenly, an aura of light purple energy covered my hands. It startled me at first, so I flinched, but it didn't go away. In an instant, the energy burst away, and left two weapons in its wake. The energy had left a gun, a pistol more specifically, in each of my hands. They were both black and had a glossy texture to them, and there were carvings down the barrels of both of them. The carvings looked similar to my glyph characters, but I didn't recognize any of them off the top of my head.

The Hollow was getting closer, so out of instinct and out of fear, I raised both of my guns and fired away, hoping for the best.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's Note: Alright, so this a bit of a fill-in chapter, but some important stuff still happens. Hopefully, in the next chapter, I'll be able to get to Rukia being taken back Soul Society, and Ami will be able to meet Renji for the first time. I'm not sure if I want to make this an Uryuu romance or a Renji romance, so if anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it! As always, thank you for reading, and please follow, favorite, or review! And a special thanks to RomesLions and Sweetly Staring for the follows and favorites! And now to the story!**_

Chapter Five-Innocent Conversations, and Maybe Just a Few Clones

Purple had never looked so beautiful to me before than it did now. For once, my luck wasn't terrible, and the guns actually shot. They didn't shoot normal bullets, though. No, they shot these light purple bursts of energy, which were very similar to the energy that had created the guns. I shot about five 'bullets' overall, and each one of the hit the Hollow, piercing through its mask. For a moment, he only staggered, but as soon as he began to try to shoot another blast at me, he began to fade.

I fell to my knees and let out a long breath when the Hollow finally faded. I can't even begin to explain how relieved I was. I had managed to save my own life for once, and I also found a few things out about my glyph and what it could do, and that I needed a lot of practice creating illusions. That was pretty good for a day's work, if I do say so myself.

As I took a minute to finally get some rest, I looked down at the two guns that had generated into my very hands. Their pitch black bodies were so smooth and glossy, and their handles fit my hands perfectly. The carvings down the barrels were perfectly etched, and they were still faintly glowing purple from when I had shot them. When the glow finally fainted, I tapped my 'energy' character and they burst into glass-like fragments of light purple energy before the faded completely.

"Just an average day, right?" I muttered, staring at my hands. I was surprised that I wasn't shaking, that I wasn't still afraid. But something had changed. I wasn't scared anymore. I felt brave, like I had the power to protect myself, the power to overcome all of my problems and downfalls, as long as I just fought.

"Ami!" I looked behind me and saw Urahara, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu off in the distance. They were hurrying over to me, obviously aware of what had just happened.

"Ami-Chan, are you alright?" Urahara asked me.

"Yes, Urahara-san, I'm fine," I told him while nodding.

"Where's the Hollow?" Jinta asked.

"Gone," I answered.

"How?" Ururu asked.

"I got him," I said.

"Ah, I thought I felt your reiatsu change. Did you discover something about your glyph?" Kisuke asked me.

"A little. Are there more Hollows around here?" I asked him. Since my battle had ended, I began to notice more presences, which felt more like pressures now, and they were very similar to the one I felt from the Hollow that attacked me, so I assumed that they were also Hollows.

"Ah, yes, there are. We should hurry. Ichigo will need us soon. We'll bring you to Inoue and Yasutora. You'll be staying at a distance from the battle, for your safety of course," Kisuke explained.

"Are you injured? Can you stand?" Tessai hurriedly asked me.

"My leg was hurt a little, but I can stand," I answered, slowly rising to my feet. As I was standing up, I was surprised that I felt no pain in my leg. I quickly looked down at it, and I was shocked.

"What is it, Ami-chan?" Kisuke asked, seeing the look on my face.

"N-Nothing. I mean, I thought my leg got hurt, but…I guess not," I told him, trying to shake off my astonishment.

"As long as you're alright, we need to hurry," Kisuke ushered me. I nodded, and followed him to Orihime and Sado.

* * *

"Ami-chan! Ami-chan, are you okay?" Orihime ran over to me as soon as she saw us coming, and she wrapped me in a tight hug.

"I'm fine, Orihime-chan. What about you?" I replied.

"I'm fine! I'm better than ever, actually!" she told me, flexing her arm to prove her point.

"I see that," I giggled. "What about you, Sado-kun?" He only grunted in response.

"He must be worried about Ichigo," I pondered out loud.

"I am, too! He's fighting so many! And then Ishida is there, too!" she exclaimed. I just shook my head at her. Again, with her feelings for Ichigo…As I looked behind me, I saw that Urahara and his group were long gone. They must be making their way to Ichigo. I could only hope that they would get there before it was too late. I hadn't seen Ichigo fight before, but I knew that he was a tough guy, and that he wouldn't let some Hollows get the best of him. We all stared off into the distance, hoping to see some of the fight.

"Ami-chan?" I looked over at Orihime. She was looking at the ground and twiddling her fingers.

"Yes, Orihime-chan?" I asked her.

"I'm scared," she told me. I knew why she was scared; she was afraid for Ichigo. I reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and not letting it go.

"He'll be fine, Orihime-chan. Urahara-san is with him," I told her. She nodded, and lifted her head to look me in the eye.

"Thank you, Ami-chan." I smiled at her, and looked back off into the distance. It felt like we were standing there forever, waiting, feeling those fluctuating pressures and hoping that none of the ones that faded belonged to someone that we knew.

* * *

Thankfully, the battle ended pretty quickly after that. Even from where we were, we could see the giant black Hollow the seemed to come out of a rip in the sky. How Ichigo beat that thing, I do not know, but he did, and after that, all of the other Hollows either fled or were slain.

We didn't get to see Ichigo after that. I assume that Tessai healed him and Uryuu and sent them on their ways, but I wasn't completely sure. What I do know is that when Kisuke came back to us, he sent Orihime and Sado home, and asked me to go back to his shop with him. Of course I obliged.

"Ami-chan, did I tell you about Soul Reapers?" he asked me.

"You told me a little bit about them, but I read a lot about them in one of the books you gave me," I told him. There were a few chapters about Soul Reapers that used glyphs in the past, and those told me a lot about Soul Society, zanpakutos, and other things of that sort. It was really quite interesting, but it was weird realizing that what I was reading wasn't fiction, that it was true and that it was directly effecting me.

"I see. That's good. You're already ahead of Inoue and Yasutora," he told me. We had finally reached the shop, and as he led me inside, I wasn't surprised to see that he was leading me to the same room that we had spoken in before. However, someone was already inside of it; I could feel it.

"Oh, Rukia-chan!" Kisuke called as he opened the door.

"What took you- Ami?" Rukia looked surprised to see me, in the least to say.

"Hi, Kuchiki-san," I greeted her, a little unsure of why she was here.

"Ami-chan, Kuchiki-san here is a Soul Reaper. Would you be so kind as to show her your glyph? She may be able to shed some light on it," he told me. I nodded in agreement with him. I was still in my spirit form, so my glyph was still glowing. I undid the top button of my shirt so she could see it better. With a look of puzzlement on her face, she bent her head so she could get a closer look at it.

"I haven't seen anything like this before," she stated. I sighed in disappointment, and touched my 'spirit' character, making my glyph disappear as that surge of power left me. I re-buttoned my shirt and sat down on one of the mats across from Kisuke, who had already sat down. Rukia sat down beside of me.

"I actually found something in the last book that I read, but it was the last section of it, and the last page was ripped out. That page had everything about my glyph on it: what the characters did and meant, how to use it, what used it..." I trailed off.

"'What' used it?" Rukia repeated.

"Yeah, that part caught my attention, too," I agreed.

"Hm…I'll tell Tessai to look around for it, but I'm not sure why it was ripped out in the first place," Kisuke said, while giving his stubbly chin a short rub. "But, at least you found out how to use it."

"Most of it," I agreed. "I really need to practice on my illusions, though." I laughed at myself at that.

"Illusions?" he asked.

"That's part of it, yeah. I'm not very good at it, though. I was going off of what the books said, and it just didn't work for me," I explained.

"That's interesting. We'll have to work out some training for you in the future," Kisuke told me.

"Kuchiki-san, you said you were a Soul Reaper, right?" I asked.

"Yes, I am," she agreed.

"But…you feel like a normal human. Do all Soul Reapers feel like that?" I asked her.

"N-no, they don't. Most of them higher spiritual pressures, like Ichigo's. I was injured in battle recently, though, and I had to transfer some of my power to Ichigo. It took more out of me than I expected," she explained.

"Will you ever get it back?"

"It will come back over time," Kisuke answered for her. I thought it was strange that he had added that so quickly, but I trusted him, so I ignored it.

"I see. Well, it's getting late, and it has been a long day, so I believe I'll head home now. Thank you again, Kisuke," I said as I stood up.

"Wait! I'll go with you!" Rukia said, quickly standing to join me.

"A-Alright," I replied. I gave one last wave to Kisuke before we left the building.

"So, Kuchiki-san, where are you staying?" I asked, trying to make some conversation with her.

"It's…complicated," she told me.

"So, with Ichigo," I stated. She looked at me in surprise.

"How did-"she began.

"I just figured. You two hangout together a lot, so I kind of guessed. I don't think anyone else has, though, so I won't tell them," I told her. She sighed in relief.

"Thank you," she said. "So, what's your story? Urahara never seems to want to tell me anything about you, so I'm curious? How did you discover that glyph?" I let out a long breath. I knew this would come up eventually. I wasn't sure if I was ready for it, but I would give it my best.

"I-It's complicated. My family…they hated me. They said my birth was a curse because of some weird religion that they followed that said that firstborn girls were one of the worst atrocities that a family could have. They blamed all of their bad luck on me. My father…he was a drunk. When I was little, he started to…hit me, a lot. It got worse as I go older, but I learned to deal with it. I stopped showing them my emotions, which deterred them a little bit, but not much; they always tried their best to make me suffer. I was too scared to try to make friends, so I was all alone, left to deal with it by myself. But one day not too long ago, my father brought out a knife. I didn't think anything of it; he had threatened me with one before but hadn't used it, but this time he used it. He stabbed me. He tried to kill me, so I finally ran. Luckily, Kisuke and Ichigo's dad were able to save me, but while they were doing that, my home caught on fire, and my family didn't make it out." It felt good to finally get that off of my chest. I felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I was making progress.

By the time I had finished my story, Rukia had stopped walking. I looked back at her, but I couldn't see her face because her head was turned down.

"Kuchiki-san?" I called when I saw something drip off of her face. She quickly walked over to me and threw her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve any of that, Ami. I'm so sorry," Rukia cried. I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. Rukia was the last person I would expect to get emotional over something, but it nice to know that she cared.

"Thank you, Rukia-chan, for understanding," I told her, holding her a little tighter.

"If you ever need anything, Ami, just come find me," she told me, finally letting me go.

"I will. The same applies to you, Rukia. And be careful, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you," I replied. She nodded, and turned to walk away.

"Goodnight, Ami."

"Goodnight, Rukia." With that, we parted ways. We were already at my apartment, so I didn't have to go far.

I took my shoes off as I walked inside, and went straight to my bedroom. I sat on the edge of my bed, and stared at the rest of my room in front of me. I undid the top button of my shirt, and tapped 'spirit', making the whole glyph appear. As it did so, I tapped 'illusion', and focused on making a copy of myself. The copy appeared right in front of me, standing at attention. I reached out and shoved my hand through her. She wasn't actually there, so I really put my hand through the air, but she still disappeared.

I finally realized why my clone had disappeared earlier: I lost my focus on her. I needed to keep my concentration on the illusion I was creating. I had read that in one of the books, but it had slipped my mind until now. That would have been some very helpful information earlier. I tried making another clone, and this time, as I put my hand through her, I kept my focus on her she didn't disappear. Now I was getting somewhere.

I decided to try something else. I imagined two clones this time, and surprisingly, two clones actually appeared. It was a little harder to focus on both of them, but with a little practice, I'm sure it would become like second nature to me.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Author's Note: This one took a bit longer to get out, but it was a bit of a weird transition chapter. Plus, with the Olympics coming on and the Walking Dead coming back, I was a bit busy. But, here it is, finally! Please follow, favorite, or review, because, well, you know, they make me happy. A special thanks to xTess and Yuuki-Hime 2097 for the follows. Enjoy, and please feel free to give me feedback!**_

Chapter Six- Goodbye

"Ami? Ami!" I looked and saw that it was Ichigo that was calling my name.

"Hm?" I mumbled, rubbing my eye and yawning a little bit.

"Class is out, and you were just staring off into to space. Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired, that's all," I told him, standing up. We began walking towards the stairs that led to the roof.

"How are you feeling, by the way? That was a tough battle you fought," I asked him. He looked at me, shocked for a moment, but then a look of realization came over him.

"I-I'm fine. You saw?" he asked. I could tell he wasn't comfortable talking about it.

"I'm sorry. You don't really talk about this stuff much, do you?" I continued. "I mean, I guess it is pretty new for you. Goodness, I didn't even think of how confused or overwhelmed you might be. I'm sorry. I wouldn't have brought it up if I'd-"

"Ami, it's fine, really! It just took me off guard, that's all," he assured me.

"Oh, you thought you were the only one?" I asked, generally curious. It wouldn't have surprised me if he had thought that. Hell, up until a few months ago, it was what I thought.

"Yeah," he answered. "How long have you, you know, seen spirits?"

"Since I can remember. My parents thought I was crazy, but spirits were the only friends I really had. I didn't have the guts to talk to anyone else, and the spirits that were around me seemed to know what was going on, but they didn't judge me. I hadn't seen a Hollow until yesterday, though," I explained.

"Were you attacked?" he nearly yelled, panic set in his voice.

"Yeah, but it wasn't bad. I fought back and I beat it," I assured him while smiling.

"Fought back?"

"Yeah, I fought back. We all fought back, Ichigo. I mean, we didn't fight as much as you did, but we took care of ourselves. I don't know about the others, but I was thrilled to be able to fight and not have to run for once." He was silent for a moment, but I could see that he smiling. It wasn't a harsh, cocky smile or anything, but a gentle, maybe even proud smile.

"Huh, and I figured we would be late," Ichigo commented. We had finally reached the roof, only to find that we were the first ones up there. We found a good place, and sat down, waiting for the others to join us.

"I wonder what's taking them," I muttered.

"Oh, Ami, I hope you don't mind, but I invited Uryuu up here. I don't know if he'll show, but," Ichigo explained, looking awkwardly off to the distance beside him. I just laughed at him quietly, causing him to look over at me with a mild glare.

"You just looked so indignant, Ichigo," I told him, stopping my laughter, no matter how slight it was, for his benefit. He was about to say something, but the door to the roof opened, revealing our special guest for the afternoon.

"Kurosaki," he stated as he reached us, pushing his glasses up as he did so.

"Ishida," Ichigo countered. "Ami, this Uryuu. Uryuu this is Ami."

"I can introduce myself," Uryuu stated, sitting a few feet in front of Ichigo.

"I was just saving you the time," Ichigo countered. I didn't think his scowl could get any deeper.

"Are you saying it would be a waste of my time to introduce myself to Gamo-san?" Uryuu retorted.

"I said nothing like that!"

"You implied it."

"I did not!"

"Woo, can you feel the tension or what?" I interrupted, fanning my face for effect. They both looked at me, then at each other, then at the ground. If they'd kept going, they would have gotten whiplash.

"Sorry, Ami," Ichigo started.

"I apologize, Gamo-san, for making you uncomfortable," Uryuu added.

"The only thing making her uncomfortable is you calling her Gamo-san," Ichigo chided. Uryuu glared at him.

"Well, Gamo-san hasn't given me permission to call her anything else, so I won't disrespect her by dropping the honorifics before she does!" Uryuu retorted. Ichigo was about to say something back, but I held up my hand and stopped him, not willing to go through another round of this.

"Thank you, Ishida-san, but you can go ahead and call me Ami. In all honesty, Gamo-san sounds strange, so I never really liked it," I told him, giving him an apologetic smile because of Ichigo. "I mean, unless you're uncomfortable with calling me something so familiar already, but I really don't mind."

"As long as you don't mind, I will," he agreed, looking back at Ichigo with a slight smirk on his face. Ichigo let out a huff, but he didn't say anything else. I just shook my head at him. I was doing that a lot lately.

"You weren't injured or anything last night, were you, Ishida-san?" I asked him.

"No, I'm fine. I hope you weren't put in any harm," he replied.

"She was attacked by a Hollow," Ichigo stated.

"And I took care of it," I added, before Ichigo could continue. Before anyone could say anything else, our friends finally made it to the roof, putting a halt to anymore awkward conversations between us, which I was thankful for.

"Ami-chan!" Orihime called as she ran over to us. Tatsuki was following right behind her, and the boys weren't too far behind.

"Hi, Ishida-san!" Orihime greeted, right before she put her attention back on me.

"You seem excited, Orihime-chan," I commented.

"I am! Look at what I brought for lunch!" she announced, pulling out a food box and opening it. When I looked inside…What in the world was it? Was it alive? Because I swear I saw it move.

"Uh, Orihime-chan, it…I…I'm speechless," I said, shaking my head.

"Speechless because it looks so amazing?" she prodded, pushing it further towards me.

"I-I wouldn't go that far. Orihime-chan, you should, uh, come over to my place for dinner tonight, or every night for that matter," I told her. I didn't know how she was still alive, considering she probably ate stuff like that **every** night.

"That would be awesome!" she gasped. "We could cook together, watch movies…" I sort of tuned out on her excited ramble. I looked beside, and caught Uryuu staring at me. I smiled at him, and he quickly looked away. I could have sworn I saw his face turn slightly red, but I think I was just imagining it.

* * *

"Rukia-chan?" I called, tapping on her shoulder. She had been spacey all day, and it was beginning to worry me. It had been a few days since the Hollow attack and the Menos, and she had started acting weird not too long after that. To me, she seemed distant, and a lot quieter, so something had to be going on with her; she hadn't even joined the rest of us for lunch.

"Oh, Ami, is something wrong?" she asked me.

"I should be asking you that," I told her. "What's bothering you, Rukia? You haven't been yourself lately."

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to concern you," she apologized, fidgeting in her seat a little.

"It's not a matter of whether you mean to or not, Rukia. You're my friend; of course I'm going to worry about you. If you need help with something, I'll gladly be there for you," I told her. She seemed a little surprised by my admission, which mildly concerned me.

"Rukia, I know that we haven't been around each other for very long, but I do consider you a very close friend. You're the first person that I really opened up to about my past, and I'm just not good with people, but for some reason, with you, it seems to work, and I wouldn't throw that away for the world, Rukia-chan," I explained. She looked like she was about to cry, so I held my arms out to her. She gladly took my offer, and I gave her a tight hug. Normally, human contact just did not suit me, but recently, I had found it to be quite comforting, especially with hugs.

"Thank you, Ami-chan. I won't forget that," she told me. That just made it sound like she was leaving or something, but I just couldn't imagine that she would leave now of all times, right when everyone was really starting to bond with her.

"Hoy, Ami!" I turned around and saw Tatsuki walking towards us.

"I'll see you later, alright?" I told her. She nodded, and walked away right when Tatsuki reached me.

"What's up?" I asked Tatsuki. I was sure that it was important, because Tatsuki wasn't known to waste people's time.

"Thank you, for, you know, taking care of Orihime, and feeding her normal food for once. She really enjoys having dinner with you," she told me.

"I bet she'd like it more if you came over, too," I suggested. The blush that went across Tatsuki's face told me that that was what she was going for to start with, but that she didn't just want to invite herself over.

"Well, I mean, if you don't mind," she stammered.

"I'd love for you to come over, Tatsuki. Obviously Orihime would, too," I assured her.

"Great, I'll see you tonight, then!" she quickly added, and then ran off without another word. It was weird seeing Tatsuki act bashful, but I'm sure she wasn't used to asking for stuff like that. But, no matter how she had asked, it would be great to have her and Orihime both over for dinner.

* * *

Something was wrong. It was late now, and Orihime and Tatsuki both had already left for the night after a fantastic and **normal** dinner. I had to make a late trip to the store for some groceries, and as I was on my way back, I felt it. I felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure, along with Rukia's and Uryuu's, but there were two other pressures. They weren't Hollows, but they were very strong.

I knew it probably wasn't my best idea, but once I felt Ichigo and Uryuu's spiritual pressures falter a little, I quickly changed my path and made my way towards them. I wasn't too far away, and as I felt their pressures grow weaker, I quickened my pace. I knew that I couldn't do much, but maybe, just maybe, I might be able to help them, even if I was only a distraction for the enemies.

I was speechless as I finally saw them. Uryuu was injured and covered in blood, and so was Ichigo. Ichigo seemed to be worse though; he was lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, and something was off about his spiritual pressure. I was closer to Uryuu, so I went to him first.

"Uryuu," I gently called, barely putting my hand on his shoulder so I wouldn't aggravate his wounds. His eyes were weak as he looked up at me, and it took him a second to recognize me.

"Ami?" he muttered, unable to focus on my face.

"Ami, get out of here!" I looked over at Ichigo. He hadn't even been able to turn his head to look at me as he said it. He was obviously struggling to move, which was probably making his injuries worse.

"Ami." I looked up and saw Rukia, but she wasn't alone. She was surrounded by two other people, who were Soul Reapers, if I was correct. One was tan with red hair, and the other had a smooth, fair complexion and raven hair. They didn't look too friendly, and judging by Ichigo and Uryuu's conditions, they were far from it. I had to play my cards wisely if I wanted to prevent any more destruction.

"Rukia," I replied. "Are you at least going to try to say goodbye?" I asked her. She looked down at the ground, unable to look me in the eyes. I could pretty well guess what was happening, that the Soul Reapers were here to take her back, and it didn't look like it was on the best of terms.

"Ami, just-just please don't get involved," she pleaded. I could see the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, but I knew that right now, there was nothing I could do. It broke my heart to see her go, and I was angry that I couldn't do anything, but I couldn't take a chance on losing Uryuu and Ichigo. Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that we would be able to go after her, but we just couldn't do it now.

"That's good advice, seeing as to what just happened to your friends here," the red-head added, trying to look intimidating. I tried to look like I wasn't impressed, because in all honesty, he was trying a bit too hard. The Soul Reaper probably didn't want to hurt me, but I figured that he would if he had to. It almost reminded me of Ichigo- almost. But, obviously, that opinion was invalid at this point.

"You bastard!" Ichigo yelled. Speak of the devil and he opens his big mouth, again.

"Ichigo let it go! You're in no condition to fight anymore and neither is Uryuu, and there's no way I can defend you both if you decide to piss them off again! Just let her go, man. She wants to go willingly, so don't make it any harder than it has to be!" I scolded. Surprisingly, he shut up after that. I felt awful for saying it, but I had to do something to protect him.

"Thank you, Ami. Don't come after me. I'll never forgive you if you do," she stated, turning towards what I suppose was a gate to Soul Society, and walking through it with the two Soul Reapers. The red-headed one stopped to look back at what I assumed was Ichigo, but as we made contact, I realized I was wrong. I couldn't tell what it was that I saw in his eyes. Disappointment, maybe?

I didn't get a chance to look for too long, though, because the gate shut almost as soon as they walked through it. As soon as the gate disappeared, I walked over to Ichigo, and kneeled beside him. He had far off look in his eyes, like he was defeated, and not just physically.

"Did you mean it?" he asked.

"No, I didn't," I told him, rubbing my hand across his back, trying to comfort him. "There was just nothing more you could do. Don't worry, though, we'll go after her. I'm sure Urahara-san will be able to think something up." Rain began to pour down as I stayed by Ichigo, but I felt someone walk up behind me, and the rain stopped hitting me.

"Things got pretty rough, didn't they?" Kisuke commented, as soon as Ichigo passed out. He made sure that his umbrella covered both me and Ichigo.

"We'll be able to go after her, won't we?" I asked, looking up at him, hoping that I hadn't just made one of the biggest mistakes of my life by letting one of my friends go. He nodded in reply, and I let out a long sigh of relief. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth it.

"You'll have to train first, but yes, I'll help you go after her," he assured me.

"What about these two?" I continued.

"Ishida will be fine. Ichigo, on the other hand, will need a little extra help."


End file.
